comic shops
Awakening Volume 2 – Done and Up For Pre-order!
Sep 6th
It’s done!
Awakening Volume 2 was solicited in the August Previews for an October release (order code AUG10 0767 – get to yer comic shops) and, just this week, it was sent off to the printers. Alex and I are exceptionally proud of this volume, the conclusion of our story, and couldn’t be more excited to see you guys guys get your hands on a copy. The final book weighs in at 176-pages and includes the final five chapters of the series, a short prose story (written by yours truly), a guest art gallery, a script accompanied by some of Alex’s amazing pencils, and a making-of art gallery.
If you don’t have a local comic shop, be sure to hit Amazon up — the book is only $16.47 if you pre-order.
We’ve also been told by Archaia that there’s going to be advance copies available at New York Comic-Con from October 8th – 10th. Alex will be there accepting your love notes and dirty underwear. I wish I could be there too but NYCC wound up conflicting with the ol’ honeymoon and, as much as I love you all, I think Japan wins the prize this year.
We’re so excited about the book being done that I’m going to drop a bunch of sneak-peak pages and artwork below. They’re not in any particular order so as to maintain a somewhat spoiler-free/teasing atmosphere. Alex raised the bar so high this time around that you’d need to pole-vault off of the Alps to even see it and I don’t think you should have to wait until the end of October to check it out… Do you?
Didn’t think so.
Click on the images to enlarge.
Popgun Snowtopia
Feb 26th
It all started with a signing. I’ll be the asshole sitting on the back of his chair.
(In order L-R: Vito Delsante, Elizabeth Purvis, Adam Knave, Frank Stockton, Jeff Powell, Joe Flood, me, Maximo Lorenzo, Jason Ibarra)
The southern New York area got pissed on the Tuesday before the signing: sleet, snow, freezing rain, regular rain. Basically, anything the sky could throw at us that was (mostly) seasonally appropriate. As such, I wasn’t sure a lot of people would make it to the signing. Sure, NYC is hearty (and, in this case, managed to escape with less damage than we did further north) but who likes coming out when the world is a mess of grey/black sludge? When the signing started, it seemed that everyone had rushed to their shelters, giving nary a thought to the stalwart group of Popgun Volume 4 contributors desperately awaiting their love at Jim Hanley’s Universe.
We laughed and joked, we heckled the one or two people who were there at the onset (shit, I even signed a guy’s Spider-Man comics for fun. Confession: Never worked on a Spider-Man book, still waiting for Marvel to call. The guy didn’t care though, so I signed happily). Then, after about 45-minutes, it seemed as though floodgates opened.
There was a line-up of people and we were moving books down the table like a well-oiled assembly line. To those watching closely, it was weirdly reminiscent of an old New York sweatshop. When the dust settled and we looked around us, tended our wounded and mourned those lost, we all realized something:
We sold out of books.
The event was a huge success and, honestly, even if we’d sold one book I still would’ve had a blast hanging out with new and old friends like Vito, Adam, and Maximo. To everyone who made it out, thanks for coming. To those who couldn’t, it’s cool, we’re still friends. I mean, you DID pick up a copy of the book, right?
In other news, this is what it looks like outside the house right now:
Snowtopia
Remember I said that the Tuesday before the signing was a bit of a mess? Well it was nothing compared to the day(s) after.
All told, at present we’ve had between 16″ and 18″ of heavy snow come crashing down on us. It’s still flurrying just a bit, but the majority of the excitement is over. After all, how many more trees can come crashing down across our street?
None Shall Pass
Yeah, that puppy’s blocking one end of the street. Luckily, when it came down it just missed our neighbor’s cars and, even though it knocked down a couple of telephone cables, managed not to disconnect any.
The other end of the street?
Yep, those are power lines
What this picture doesn’t show is the fact that, after 1am last night when the tree came down, no plows were able to pass through. Between being unable to pass and those low-hanging power lines (zap!), they would be completely stuck after a certain point. The one unfortunate sucker who happened across the tree had to back his plow allllllll the way back down the hilly, icy, barely-wide-enough-for-one-normal-car road. Did I mention the precariously parked cars on the side of the road? As such, both ends of the street are, for all intents and purposes, impassable.
But hey, what’s wrong with being shut in with the family for a while, right? I mean, I’ve got plenty of work to do, plus we’ve got movies to watch and LOST to catch up on (we’re starting from the beginning, since Jackie’s never seen it and I haven’t watched since the start of Season 3. We’ve already cleared Season 1). Even now, there’s certainly at LEAST one or two other things I should be focusing on. I’ve got a pitch brewing (and, therefore, an artist to find) and a screenplay (yar, that’s right) that begs for development.
But we’re going to be stuck here for awhile, no way out to the main roads, and we can’t let it, can’t can’t let it get us. You hear it, don’t you? The skittering in the walls and the scratching at the window? Maybe I’ve been down here for too long. I think I hear LOST firing up.
All work and no play…
Right?
REBUILT: Redefining the Spaces That Define Us
Feb 24th
Quick reminder, NYC-area comic fans – Tonight I’ll be signing at Jim Hanley’s Universe NYC for today’s release of Popgun Volume 4! The anthology features Rusted: Faded Signal, the first of a series of interconnected shorts written by yours truly and illustrated by the inimitable Alex Eckman-Lawn. We finished this particular story last May so we’re both PUMPED to see it out today.
Sadly, Alex won’t be able to make the signing today. We’ve got all sorts of nasty weather that came through yesterday and is coming through later in the week, which means Alex has to finish up work on his solo gallery debut.
WHAT?! Solo gallery show?!
Fuck yes. Cool people (that’s you) in the Philly or NYC-area, (or anywhere commutable to Philly) need to get out next Friday night, March 5th, from 6-9pm to check out the show. Info to follow after the invite:
REBUILT: Redifining the Spaces That Define Us
You can save and print the image, or just plug the following into your ol’ internet compass or whatever it is you kids do these days:
2434 East Dauphin Street,
Philadelphia, PA 19125
Hope to see some of you tonight at Jim Hanley’s and more of you next week at the opening. Because you’re awesome. And we love you.
Please Repost! An Open Letter to Comic Retailers – Awakening Update!
Aug 26th
OUR TOP STORY…
So, the book is out – now what? Now, oh loyal readers, we need to keep the momentum going. Reviews and interviews are abound but now we need to show comic shops that there’s good reason for them to carry the book in their stores! Below is an open letter to comic retailers which I emailed out to all the shop contacts I could gather online. What we need YOU to do is repost this on blogs and message boards, Twitter a link, send up a smoke signal – get this info to your local shop to help them sell the book. That doesn’t mean you should go in and ask for ten copies of the book to be ordered, that’s not what this is about. This is about spreading the word about the book and giving retailers the ammunition they need to confidently recommend and sell the book to their customers.
Let’s do this thing! Zombie Noir for everybody! Tweet and repost pleeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaase!
——————————————————————————————————–
Hello, purveyor of four-color greatness!
My name is Nick Tapalansky and I’m the writer of the recent Archaia release, Awakening (Volume One). Selling comics is a tough business, and nobody knows that as well as you guys. That said, you do it day in and day out and, one better, you do it well. If I can appeal to your generous side for just a minute, I’m hoping you’ll read on and find your free PDF of the 144-page volume, a trailer for the book, and more. I’m putting in some legwork, trying to spread the word about the book’s release (the hardcover was released in July of this year), and let you know how the team behind the book, as well as Archaia, is working to promote the book and push readers into your stores. First though, a little background.
When the first three chapters of Awakening were serialized back in 2007 the series was nominated for four British Eagle Awards including Favourite Newcomer Writer and Favourite New Comic Book. We’ve also received tons of critical praise, including:
- “The coolest and most original zombie piece since The Walking Dead got under way… This is simply gorgeous art that needs to be lived in. It, like any great art, speaks to you immediately and with authority.” – Lee Ferguson, Broken Frontier
- “Derek Peters is where Phillip Marlowe meets George Romero. Awakening will have readers feeling so lonely that they need someone nearby, but so paranoid that they’ll double-check who’s in bed next to them.” – Nick Kelly, Horrorview
- “Awakening may be the indie runaway hit of the year.” – The Geeks of Doom
- “Awakening is the type of storytelling achievement you often find yourself reading in trade format a year after-the-fact, wondering why the hell you didn’t hear more about it at the time of its publishing. The type of book that goes on to achieve eventual cult status and terrible film adaptations that wholly miss the point.” — Tom Mattson, Newseed Comics
After Archaia underwent a publishing hiatus for most of 2008, we quietly waited with the book until the business end of things was sorted out. By mid 2009 the machine was moving again and Awakening, now a two-volume hardcover series (more on the format shift in a minute), was ready to make its comeback! The book has since been featured on CBR, in Rue Morgue Magazine, and on various comic news and review sites.
Below is the solicitation for the volume, followed by a link to the trailer for the book:
“The once peaceful city of Park Falls has been tainted by a series of gruesome murders and missing persons. Cynthia Ford, well known as the town crazy, comes forward to speak with retired police detective Derrick Peters one January afternoon. She claims to have information about the murders, but does she hold the key to unlocking the mystery or has she truly gone insane?
To Derrick’s disbelief she utters one word:
Zombies.
Unable to ignore Cynthia’s information, though not sharing her beliefs, Derrick and others in the city explore the mystery as weeks turn to months and the death toll rises. Could Cynthia have been right? Follow the first half of Park Falls’s year-long struggle for answers here.”
You can view the trailer for the volume here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qJQB68NkP0
So, where do you come in? Like I said in the beginning of this letter, I know how hard it is to sell comics these days (or even books in general). It’s even harder to opt to stock a new title from an unknown creative team when you’ve got some guaranteed sellers you can put in its place. That’s actually why we shifted formats from floppy issues and hardcovers to just hardcovers – how could we ask you to order a fourth issue from a relatively little known book and put it on a shelf in place of, say a Marvel or DC book after we had an 18-month publication hiatus? It wouldn’t make sense. That’s not to say you guys don’t support the indies, far from it, but something like that just seemed like a bit of a stretch, even from our end of the table as creators.
Back to the point though – it’s hard to make that decision without knowing more about the book. That’s why, below, you’ll find a link to download a PDF of the entire volume for you to read.
(Email Nick.Tapalansky@gmail.com with your shop’s name and location to receive the PDF!)
The book contains the first five chapters of the series, two more than were serialized, 10-pages of supplemental story material (journal entries and illustrations between each chapter), and pinups from a multitude of artists as chapter breaks. It’s also got a sweet dust jacket and an even sweeter price point: $19.95. If the books had all been serialized, they would’ve cost $17.50 combined cover price – for $2.45 more you get it hardbound, with dust jacket, and 15-pages of supplemental material (the journal entries plus the aforementioned pinups)!
I firmly believe there’s at least one (if not two or three) customer in your shop that would love the hell out of this book and that’s my challenge to you: put this book in that customer’s hand. It’s a sale for you, and another reader for us – we both win.
Got a zombie nut? Tell them it’s a “zombie noir,” a murder mystery with a zombie twist.
Got somebody who’s zombied out? Tell them it’s more about the mystery with an entirely different take on the classic zombie (read the book – it’s true).
Got an indie fan who doesn’t dabble in horror so much? Tell them its existential horror, more about the plight of the characters in the wake of this growing mystery (the noir card helps here too).
Got a genre (horror) fan? Tell them its zombies with a Fell feel.
Got all of the above? Go to town! The best part about it is that everything above about the book is true – you’re introducing them to something new and exciting they otherwise might not have known about!
Right now Alex and I, along with Mel Caylo, Archaia’s Marketing Director, are working hard to plan an October event for Awakening.
[Details of event edited for now - details will be emailed along with PDF download link, including info on how we'd like to promote YOUR store! - Nick]
We’ll be supporting the event via online news (Comic Book Resources, Broken Frontier, Comic Monsters, Fangoria.com, etc.), social networking (Twitter, MySpace, Facebook), and the like. Our hope is to move more people into stores rather than ordering online, so if you plan to have a copy or two of the book in stock please let me know after I send you official dates for the event so that I can list your stores name and address in any releases, blogs, etc. relating to the event. We want to make push as successful as possible for you and us, so any support or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. We’re in this for more than just the one day, so anything we can do to help you sell the book beyond the one-day event, please don’t hesitate to mention!
In the interim, you can find out more about the book, including interviews and reviews, and follow us online at the following addresses:
Twitter: http://twitter.com/AwakeningComic
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/AwakeningComic
Nick’s Site: http://www.nicktapalansky.com
Alex’s Site: http://www.alexeckmanlawn.com
Thanks for taking the time to read this – I know it was a bit lengthy but I’m hoping with all of this material and information you’ll be able to better sell the book in your store. I’ll be sending out more info about the October event as we’re able to finalize details. Alex and I are always up for store signings, talking at graphic novel reading/creating groups, or any other store events, so please feel free to email if you’d like us to pop in! The east coast, northeast in particular, is where we’re located but we’d be happy to come by around conventions to stores that are out of our relative area so don’t hesitate to ask!
Thanks again!
Best,
Nick Tapalansky
Nick.Tapalansky@gmail.com
